Sweater vest + cuddly kitten = The Team Harper jacket

In a whirlwind election campaign, there’s one thing Canadian voters can count on: Stephen Harper’s choice of apparel. From Vancouver to Cape Breton Island, the Conservative leader is proudly sporting his quilted lightweight Team Canada Olympic jacket.

“I think he’s hitting the right note,” Edmonton-based fashion consultant Shirley Borrelli told iPolitics. “We were all proud of the Olympics, whether we lived in western Canada or eastern Canada.”

“If he’s going after the hockey vote, he’s doing very well,” agreed Leah Morrigan, an image consultant in Toronto. “He’s one of the guys.”

Harper has been photographed in the jacket Easter egg hunting in Royal Oak, B.C., serving fudge in Sydney, N.S., and tying a child’s skates at an arena in St. John’s, NFLD. He also zipped it up at the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in Thunder Bay, and at a Vancouver Canucks sporting goods store in Vancouver.

The jacket is a great choice for these casual venues, Borrelli said. It sends a personal and patriotic message to voters.

“I love it. I think it really warms him up. I think it helps him relate. And I think it’s going to work in his favour,” Borrelli said.

This campaign, it’s all about being the homegrown boy. Conservative Party ads have consistently targeted Michael Ignatieff’s years abroad as a Harvard professor as evidence that he is not committed to Canada. In the famous words of the attack ads: “He didn’t come back for you.”

“For most situations during the campaign it is best to err on the conservative side with tailored and softly tailored styles,” she said. “Plus these styles are what Harper appears most comfortable in, and that is essential because what feels best usually looks best.”

The Hudson’s Bay Company introduced the jacket ahead of the Olympics, and it sold out in stores before the Games ended. It was available on eBay for as little as $50 by March 2010.

Nevertheless, the look is not outdated, Borrelli said. She speculated Harper’s endorsement could drive up sales at HBC stores, where Olympic merchandise is still for sale.

A newly created Facebook page asks: Are You Getting Tired of That Canada Jacket Yet? In its first four days, it grew slowly to just more than 50 “likes.”

“I doubt that in the wake of the historic Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, patriotic Canadians will turn their backs on such a symbolic jacket for political reasons,” Clocan said.